9. “Tree Coffin” Skeleton from the Iron Age
You never know what you’ll encounter when you work on construction! Workers in Zurich, Switzerland, were taken aback in 2017 when they discovered the bones of a woman within a tree trunk!
8. The Pompeii Horse
The finding of a horse’s corpse print among the Pompeii remains in 2018 reminded people that the disaster killed more than just human beings. Archaeologists discovered a full-sized plaster duplicate of the animal’s imprint in December of that year. It was the first horse discovered at Pompeii, which was submerged in volcanic ash by the disastrous eruption of nearby Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
7. A 1000-Year-Old Buddhist Monk
Scientists uncovered the mummified remains of a monk imprisoned within a 1,000-year-old Buddhist statue in May 2019. They made the startling discovery after scanning the statue and discovering a skeleton within, seated in lotus pose.
6. Four-Legged…Whale?
Paleontologists discovered the fossilized bones of Peregocetus pacificus, a four-legged prehistoric whale with webbed feet, off Peru’s western coast in 2011. Even stranger, its fingers and toes had little hooves on them. It possessed razor-sharp teeth that it used to catch fish.
5. The mysterious Lost Kingdom
Archaeologists uncovered relics of a mystery vanished kingdom in the form of a big stone with a weird inscription last year at the Türkmen-Karahöyük ancient mound site in central Turkey. Although the surrounding area, known as the Konya Plain, is rife with “lost” cities, one was unique.
4. The World’s Oldest Complete Shipwreck
Archaeologists confirmed the discovery of the world’s oldest intact shipwreck in late 2018, a mile (1.6 km) beneath the water’s surface in the Black Sea off the coast of Bulgaria.
3. A Long-Forgotten Chapel
Archaeologists from the Auckland Project recently uncovered the remains of a massive medieval chapel in County Durham, England, that had gone missing for 370 years. The Bek Chapel was built in the 14th century for Anthony Bek, one of the richest and most powerful prince-bishops in the United Kingdom at the time.
2. Interbreeding of Ancient Hominids
Alan Rogers, an anthropologist and professor at the University of Utah, examines the genomes of hominins, or ancient human species. He recently led a study that used DNA strands to decode millions of years of human evolution and history by looking for genetic patterns such as mutations and common genes.
1. Perfume of Cleopatra
Cleopatra was historically known as an opulent woman who went to great lengths to show off her beauty. According to mythology, she sailed a golden boat with purple sails coated in a powerful smell.
